No one knows the true taste of success quite like local youth, Cai Tudor-Jones. Cai’s ambition to get a new iPhone resulted in him building a business of his own.
Here is what he had to say:
“Last year my older brother’s cell phone was stolen from his tog bag next to the field while he was playing a club rugby match. It was insured but because it was an older model that is no longer being sold, it was replaced with the closest newer model. I was using my dad’s four-year-old contract iPhone at the time and felt jealous that my brother just got a new one. My phone wasn’t ever iOS16 compatible so I asked my dad if I could also have a new phone. He said no!
I really wanted a new phone so I asked again and he told me that I could have any phone I wanted if I paid for it. I said I don’t have any money and he then used my own line on me – ‘That sounds like a Cai problem.’I slept on it and asked if I could sell raffle tickets to make money, like I do for school fundraisers, only there’d be no prize. This idea was shot down and I got a lecture on the meaning of fraud. My subsequent suggestions of barman and waiter were also shot down by my dad saying ’11 year old’s are not allowed to work as barmen.”
“I went back to him with a few more suggestions I found on the internet on how children can make money. He then told me the best way for me to earn my iPhone would be to sell a product, but what? I slept on it and came back to him with an idea. I told myself that no one had ever said they don’t like my nana’s fruit squares so why don’t I try to sell those.”
My nana (Denny) has made these tasty fruits and biscuit-infused treats only for friends and family since before I was born. So that’s how our #fruitsquares business idea was born.
As I enjoy art and technology, my dad gave me the job of designing a logo whilst he called his mom to get the recipe. We made our first batch together and since my dad loves coffee and knows all the coffee shops in the neighborhood, he met with the owner of Vice Coffee & Elixirs and offered him a taster. Greig, the owner, loved it and agreed to test the market by buying what was left of our first batch. We ate the first row from the tray.
My dad told me that we needed to bring our costs down in order to make a profit.
We set two goals:
1) Make bigger batches so we can buy ingredients in bulk at better prices.
2) Avoid eating our own stock as we ate our profit from the first batch.
He did some calculations and worked out a much bigger recipe for me.
Greig suggested where we could buy our ingredients from at a better price and we managed to cut down our costs. My dad approached the owners of other coffee shops while I started with direct selling at the Pirates Rugby Club where ironically this whole story began.
We are now selling at Vice, The Whippet, 4th Ave Coffee Roasters, Fresh Earth and now Pronto. Oh, and I managed to save enough money to buy my new iPhone before Christmas. Dad suggested I take advantage of the Black Friday specials so I got a very good discounted price compared to the usual price.
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